First Impressions
by Monroe-Militia
Summary: Nora Clayton is a bounty hunter who was been hired to kill Miles Matheson. Things become complicated when he decides to hire her instead.
1. Chapter 1

Nora woke up and turned her head, as slowly as she could, to look over at the other side of the bed. He was still there and, judging by the steady movement of his bare chest, he was still asleep.

She knew that she should be relieved. This was supposed to be a good thing. This was exactly what she had wanted and yet she still found a lump in her throat and she felt a pit in her gut that she had yet to feel during her job as a bounty hunter. Sure, she usually got nervous on the job, but this was different. Nora had never been hired to kill anyone before. Not until Miles Matheson.

If it weren't for Mia, there was no way that Nora ever would have taken this job. Even then, after she'd already gone through with the part which she had been initially dreading the most- showing up at the General's door in skimpy clothing and claiming to have been sent by one of his captains as a gift -she still wasn't sure she was going to be able to go through with it.

Several seconds passed before finally Nora knew that she couldn't wait any longer. She had already slept with him. She'd already screwed up once by letting herself fall asleep before he had. She couldn't afford to screw up again by waiting for him to wake up. He was dangerous and she knew that, if he was awake, she would never get the chance to properly get rid of him. And as much as the idea terrified her, she really did need to finish the job and get out of there. After all, Mia was counting on her and they needed the bounty to get by. Mia was Nora's responsibility and she would never forgive herself if her little sister were to starve because she was too weak to finish what she had started.

She moved as slowly and carefully as she could as she slid the sheets off of herself. She chanced a glance back at him to find that he still appeared to be in exactly the same condition as before, then gradually lowered her feet one at a time to the floor.

As she rose from the bed and it let out a soft creak, Nora flinched and looked back over her shoulder, but he still appeared to be sound asleep. She stood still for a few seconds to be sure before turning away from him and slowly tip-toeing across the room, towards the hook he had thrown his weapons belt over.

She knew that it was ridiculous, especially considering the earlier events of the night, but she found herself feeling vulnerable in her lack of clothing. Still, getting blood on the only clothes she had with her would not be a wise decision and neither would wasting time in order to get dressed.

She stopped in front of the hook and eyed the gun for a moment. It would be easier, quicker too, but it would also be a lot more likely to capture attention. She couldn't afford that. If she got caught, then no one would go back for Mia. No one would be there to look after her or make sure that she got food. So, with that thought steering her forwards, Nora slowly reached for his knife instead.

As she turned to walk back to the bed she couldn't be sure of how loudly she was moving. She attempted to creep forwards, but she couldn't quite be sure of how loud her footsteps were over the sound of her thumping heart as the adrenaline kicked in.

When she stopped before him, she saw that the shallow rise and fall of his chest was much slower than the pounding of her own heart within her ear drums. She tried to calm herself for a moment, but this was not a situation where calm was going to come.

Finally, she decided to just worry about the matter at hand. Namely, how she was going to make sure that he wouldn't survive this or wake up to be in any condition to fight back or call out for help. She wished she had considered this sooner. She might have brought her pillow with her then, to try to cover his face with. That would have been the smarter decision.

But there she was, standing over him with a knife, feeling like the pounding of her heart was going to wake him at any moment. If she wanted to get the pillow she would have to try to reach over him without waking him or go all the way back around the bed. She decided that would be a dumb risk, not only out of fear of waking him up in the process, but also out of fear of losing her determination. So instead, she ever so slowly reached out with her left hand to cover his mouth so that, if he woke up, he hopefully wouldn't be able to make a sound.

She moved the hand with the knife then, bringing it to his throat. Just as she was about to make a move to cut it, his eyes shot open and she froze in shock.

She only hesitated for a split second, but that was all that Miles needed to grab her roughly by the wrist. He twisted her wrist upwards, holding it painfully tight until she let out a small whimper and reluctantly dropped his knife onto the mattress.

She was expecting him to grab the knife, but he didn't. Instead he glared over at her as he loosened his grip, ever so slightly.

Suddenly, he let go of her altogether, flinging her wrist back towards her in the process, as he growled out, "Get dressed."

She blinked at him in confusion for a moment before turning to look for the skimpy dress she had come there in, only to become distracted by the gleam of metal coming from the hook where his gun still hung on his belt.

Apparently her gaze lingered there for a moment too long, since he warned her, "Don't even think about it. That's not a race you're going to win."

Nora still weighed her options for a second longer before deciding that there was no way that she was going to win a fight with General Matheson, especially one that he was starting with the advantage of a knife. So instead, she slowly turned and began to walk over to where her dress was lying on the floor, a few feet from the bed.

She pulled it on and didn't feel quite the relief at her body being covered once again that she had been expecting. Instead, she only felt her nerves on end as she crossed her arms over the low neckline of her dress.

She turned back around to find that he had gotten out of the bed and pulled a pair of pants on in the time it had taken her to dress herself. He grabbed the knife off of the bed and walked over to stick it back in his belt, which he carried with him and set down on top of his dresser.

She wasn't sure whether she should feel proud or disappointed that she apparently was perceived as a big enough threat to take both of his weapons with him. She supposed that carefulness might have something to do with the fact that he was still alive, despite the number of people who would quite literally pay to see him dead.

He grabbed a shirt out of his dresser and tossed it over to her before pulling out another for himself. She caught it and looked down at it confused for a moment before hesitantly pulling the sleeves over her arms.

As Nora buttoned the shirt up so that she was covered a fair bit more than she had been in just the dress, she told him, "Thanks."

He finished putting his belt on and turned to shoot her a confused look. She couldn't really blame him. As soon as she had said it, she'd realized just how stupid it had been. She had tried to kill him, she knew what that meant. An example was going to be made of her. She was going to be killed, probably tortured first. The best she could possibly hope for was simply rotting in a prison cell, but she knew that wasn't likely. And yet she had just been stupid enough to show weakness by thanking her executor for loaning her a shirt that he would probably take back off of her dead body.

* * *

Nora had been expecting to be taken to some kind of cell or an interrogation room to await her fate. Instead, Miles had led her past several guards and into a room with a relatively small dining table. As the door shut behind her, she realized that he was leaving her there alone. She knew from the guards she'd seen in the hallway not to bother trying to escape, but that still didn't make waiting there any easier.

She remained standing, just inside the door, as she let a whole new kind of fear wash over. Now that her life wasn't in any immediate danger she found herself able to worry about what would happen to Mia without her. It wasn't any cheerier of a thought so she decided she needed to focus on something else.

Nora took a couple steps further into the room and looked around, but found nothing of real interest to her and nothing that would help her. Unless she could figure out how to use a heavy wooden table and a bunch of chairs to launch her great escape, she was out of luck. So instead, she settled for sitting down.

Miles walked back into the room, only moments after Nora had sat down. He was carrying two large plates with him, one of which he set in front of her as he set the other across the table from her. He walked over to the other side of the table and stood with his palms pressing down onto the back of the chair, but made no move to sit down.

Nora looked down at the plate for a moment to find that it was completely covered in delicious looking food. She hadn't eaten anything that had looked even remotely close to the quality of this meal since before the blackout. She knew it had to be a ploy. That made her more uncomfortable than if he would have just told her what was going on.

"Eat." He told her in a gruff voice, although he hadn't so much as looked at his own plate since he had entered the room.

Instead, Nora stared up at him defiantly with her arms crossed over her chest as she questioned, "Why did you bring me here?"

He ignored her question and instead stood in silence as time dragged on until, finally, he asked, "What's your real name?"

"I told you last night," she responded without hesitation.

He cracked a small smirk at that. "Sarah, huh?"

She nodded her head as she hoped that she was succeeding at keeping her expression hardened to try to mask her fear.

"Really?" He asked as he quirked an eyebrow up at her. "See, if I was going to try to take out someone as important as the general of the militia, I probably wouldn't use my real name around him."

"I guess ideas like that are what sets you apart as a general," she retorted, although it was clear to both of them that Sarah was not her real name.

"Just give me your first name," he insisted. "All I want is something I can call you that isn't made up."

There was a short pause before she finally told him, "Nora."

She knew that she could just as easily have given him any other made up first name, but instead she had opted for the truth. Her first name couldn't really be that important of information. Besides, she wasn't a fan of having to remember that she was supposed to be going by an alias anyways.

He nodded his head thoughtfully, but before Nora found out where he was planning on going with that, the door opened behind him.

"What's with the girl?" A voice behind her asked.

Miles' expression cracked into a wide grin as he insisted, "Don't you recognize her, Captain Baker? After all, you did send her over to me last night. Didn't you?"

"I _what_?" Jeremy asked in a confused tone as he stepped further into the room with his own breakfast in hand.

Nora glared over at the general, who was clearly finding this whole situation to be irritably entertaining. They both knew that someone had told her to say that Captain Baker had sent her and yet he felt the need to keep up the charade to see if he could make her squirm.

Miles didn't explain and instead remained smirking smugly over at Nora as the pair remained at a stalemate. Before the captain had the chance to ask any follow-up questions or either of them had the chance to give first in their little stand-off, they were once again distracted by the sound of the heavy double doors.

"What's with the girl?" Another voice asked.

"That's what I said," Jeremy insisted as he looked between Miles and the man who had just entered the room.

Miles smirked over at her for a moment longer before his gaze focused onto the man behind her as he introduced her with, "This is Nora. She tried to kill me this morning."

"_She _tried to kill you?" Bass asked in a tone of disbelief that grated on Nora's nerves. She would have threatened to make him next on her list if her situation was a little less dire.

Instead, she focused on the general before her as she coldly told him, "Nothing personal. I could just really use the bounty that's on your head."

"_She_'s a bounty hunter?" Bass questioned in a tone just as skeptical as his previous question had come out.

"Not just any bounty hunter," Miles corrected. "She's our new bounty hunter."

If Nora had chosen to eat the breakfast he'd offered her, then she was sure she would have choked on it at that. As it was, she struggled to try to conceal her surprise at the statement.

Meanwhile, Jeremy didn't seem to be having the same struggle as a smirk crossed his lips and he commented, "She must be something else in bed."

Nora shot a glare in his direction as General Monroe asked, "What the hell makes you think we can trust her, Miles? She just tried to kill you, I doubt she's looking to do us any favours."

"She's a bounty hunter, not some die-hard rebel. It's not like she's loyal to them. She'll go wherever the better money is," Miles pointed out before his gaze flickered back over to meet hers. "Besides, she could use the bounty. "

"Still, you think she's going to be any good?" Bass demanded. "Look at her. Besides, her record isn't looking very good so far. 0 for 1."

"She's exactly what we could use," Miles countered. "Someone that doesn't want to get caught is bound to be looking for tough guys who pay them a little too much attention. They're not going to be suspicious of her. Hiring her isn't exactly that risky, Bass. Either she's worth the money or she doesn't come back and we don't pay her."

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! I know I have a starting new stories problem, but hopefully I will be able to have updates up for everything fairly regularly...**


	2. Chapter 2

On her way back into the small, one room building that had become her and Mia's temporary living conditions, Nora was stopped by the woman who they were renting the former shed from. She winced a little to herself before stopping and turning around as she admitted, "I don't have it yet."

"You told me that you would have the money by today at the latest," the woman insisted. "You know I can't let you and your sister keep staying here if you aren't going to pay your rent. You aren't the only ones who are going through tough times and I can't afford to take care of anyone else."

"I know," Nora responded as she pleaded with her eyes. "Just please. Give me one more week. I promise I'll have it."

The other woman let out a sigh and debated with herself for a moment before she finally gave in. "Fine. _One week._ Count tonight as night one. If I don't have the money by night seven, then I'm throwing you and your sister out. No exceptions."

A smile formed on Nora's lips as she told her, "Thank you. I promise I'll have it."

"You'd better."

* * *

"You can't seriously be considering this, Nora," Mia insisted.

"We need the money. We're already lucky that we haven't gotten thrown out of here yet and, in case you haven't noticed, we're running out of food," Nora argued.

"You tried to kill him and he let you go," her sister pointed out. "Don't be stupid enough to go back there."

"I don't have a choice, Mia," she insisted. "Look, it's an easy job. I'm going after someone for tax evasion, not a murderer. The most difficult part is going to be trying to get there and back within a week so that we can stay here. I don't like it either, but I'll only be gone for a few days. I'll be back in time to pay the rent. I promise, okay?"

Although Matheson had seemed insistent that they could use her as bounty hunter, he had given her a job that she knew was a test to see if she had any skill whatsoever more than it was an urgent bounty. She didn't mind. She was more than happy collecting an easy bounty as long as it meant that she and Mia could get by.

Her sister was still clearly not impressed with the idea of her working for the militia, but she stopped arguing then and clenched her jaw shut. Mia didn't speak again until Nora had finished changing and grabbed her bag to take with her. "Be careful, Nora."

"You too."

Nora stepped outside and closed the door behind her for a moment as she leaned with her weight back against the door and shut her eyes. She wasn't overly worried about her own task, but she hated leaving her sister alone. It had been difficult enough the night before when she had been expecting to be back right away and this time she was going to be gone for even longer.

* * *

"She's never coming back. You do realize that, right?" Bass questioned. "You never should have let her go. What the hell were you thinking?"

"She's not a threat," Miles pointed out. "She's not going to try to kill me."

"What makes you so damn sure?" Bass demanded. "The fact that she's nice to look at doesn't change the fact that there's still a bounty on your head."

"There's probably more than one, Bass," Miles countered. "I'd call that lucky if the bounty she was after is the only one on my head. We can give her better pay and pay her more often. Don't you think that'll sway her? Besides, I think I could stop her if she was stupid enough to try something again."

"And what if you can't? Don't be stupid, Miles. Don't underestimate someone that's already tried to kill you once," Bass argued. "I _know_ you know better than that."

"Even if she did succeed, do you really think she'd stand a chance of getting out of here without someone finding out first?" Miles questioned. "I'm not asking you to trust her. Just trust _me_. I've got a good feeling about her."

"She's an amateur and the only feeling you have about her is coming from inside your pants," Bass retorted.

"She's tough," Miles argued. "She didn't crack while she was defenseless in a room with us, even though I'm sure she was expecting something a lot worse after trying to kill me in my sleep."

Something in the way she had glared back at him instead of quivering in fear had given him a sort of confidence in her. He had become pretty skilled at picking out who would be useful and who wouldn't as the head of the militia. He wasn't used to his friend not trusting that judgement.

"She _should _have gotten worse for that," Bass insisted incredulously. "She's hiding something. That's why she didn't crack."

"What do you have to worry about, Bass?" Miles challenged as a smug look crossed his features. "I thought there was no chance of her coming back anyways."

Bass still did not look impressed, but he decided to drop the subject for the time being.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Nora arrived back at the Militia headquarters on the last possible evening that she could, with the tax evader in tow. The biggest struggle of it had been listening to him complaining and trying to talk her into releasing him for the whole trip back. Still, she hadn't budged. Her sister was more important to her than any excuses that the man she had been transporting could come up with.

* * *

"What is it, Captain Baker?" Bass questioned as his comrade stepped into his office.

"Looks like Miles was right," Jeremy responded in an amused tone as he hesitated in the doorway. "I just locked up the tax evader that he sent his newest bounty hunter after."

"I told you," Miles commented smugly from where he stood, pouring himself a glass of the president's scotch.

"Where is she now?" Bass asked, seeming not nearly as enthusiastic as he probably should be at his friend's successful plan.

Jeremy turned to look behind him and Nora reluctantly stepped the doorway in front of him, into the office. As she stopped in the middle of the expansive office, feeling like a trapped animal utterly surrounded by predators, she tried to keep any signs of discomfort free from her features.

The president glared silently from behind his desk as Miles grinned over at her and offered, "You want something to drink?"

"No." She told him sternly, keeping her back straight and her head held high as she tried to force herself to feel as confident as she was making her body language out to be. "I want my bounty."

Miles let out a chuckle. "Straight to business. I like that."

He sipped at his drink, but made no move as if to get her the money he had promised her and Nora felt a sudden wave of horror rush over as she wondered if they were planning on paying her at all. They had her surrounded. For all she knew, they weren't going to let her back out of there. But if she wasn't able to get back with the bounty, and quick, then Mia was sure to be thrown out.

"I want my bounty." She repeated. "I got you your criminal. You owe me."

Monroe let out a twisted laugh at that before repeating in disbelief, "_He_ owes _you_?" His head whipped over to look at his friend in disbelief as he questioned, "You hear that, Miles? She tried to kill you and _you're_ the one that's indebted to _her_."

Miles brushed that comment off though and his eyes still didn't leave her as he insisted, "You'll get your money. But what's the rush, can't you stay for a drink?"

"No. I can't." She responded firmly.

"Hmm," he murmured thoughtfully to himself before taking another painfully slow sip of his drink that she was sure was intended just to torture her. "And why's that?"

She remained silent, jaw clenched firmly shut, for several seconds as she looked over at the window in order to avoid his gaze. When she realized that he wasn't planning on letting her have her bounty until she gave him an answer, she turned her attention back to him and stared him down as she responded, "I need it for rent. If I don't get back in time I'll get thrown out, alright?"

"Don't worry about that," Miles told her. "There are plenty of rooms here and they're probably a hell of a lot nicer than wherever you're staying. I'm sure we could find somewhere for you."

She frowned. "I can't. My sister's waiting for me to bring that rent money back. She probably ran out of food by now. I need to get back to her."

"We've got more than enough room for her to stay here too," Miles countered. "And the food's pretty good, if you'd give it a try."

Nora let out a humourless laugh at that. "No offense, but there's no way in hell that I'm bringing my sister anywhere near you."

To her surprise, Miles' lip simply twitched up into a smirk in response. "Alright," he said before his eyes finally left her form to flicker over to the man still standing in the doorway. "You heard the woman, Baker. She wants her bounty. Bring her some bread back with it."

Jeremy gave the general a nod and turned out of the room as Monroe silently fumed in the corner, focusing all of his energy on glaring at Miles in the hope of him realizing just how unimpressed he was with the other man's actions.

The silence was heavy, so after several seconds passed without a word, Nora felt the need to break it. Her voice was much less aggressive than before as she told Miles, "Thank you."

He gave her a nod of his head, but said nothing else before Jeremy came back with a pouch of diamonds and a loaf of bread, which he handed to the bounty hunter.

"Looks like her work is done for the night," Miles commented. "Show her out, Captain Baker." His gaze flickered to hers one last time as he added, "That's a standing offer for the rooms, by the way."

Nora took her payment from Jeremy and then turned to look back at the general over her shoulder one last time before following the captain out the door.

* * *

"You gave her everything she wants and then just let her leave," Bass insisted. "She is _never_ coming back."

"That's what you said last time," Miles countered. He turned his friend's words back at him with a smirk as he commented, "And your record's not that great. 0 for 1."

The president was clearly not amused as he glared over at him. "Since when do we give food away as part of the bounty?"

"It was a loaf of bread, Bass," Miles pointed out. "We have enough of those sitting around that I think we can handle giving one away. Besides, it's worth less than if she had taken the drink that I'd offered her."

"I don't see how feeding her sister is our concern," Bass muttered out. He knew that it wasn't necessarily the soundest of complaints, whining about feeding some starving kid, but that wasn't the point. The point that Miles was completely going against every ounce of logic Bass knew he possessed to try to keep this bounty hunter, who had practically taken him out, happy.

"She did good. We could use her," Miles insisted. "I think we can afford a loaf of bread to keep her sister alive."

"She did good because you gave her the easiest bounty we've got," the other man countered.

"To see if she was worth sending on something bigger," he pointed out. "And she proved that she's worth a try."

"Too bad we'll never see if she can handle something bigger because you gave her food and money and she has no reason to come back here," Bass muttered out.

"That money isn't going to last her forever," Miles responded. "She'll be back. Trust me."

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! I've got the rest of the chapters written now, so there should be daily updates. Also, a humongous thanks goes out to simbagirl, strangeJenny, and the anonymous guest for reviewing last chapter! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

"You are not going back there, Nora."

"We need the money, Mia," Nora responded in an exasperated tone. "We've already had this argument, remember?"

"We have money. You paid the rent," her sister argued. "Why do you need to go back?"

"We can't live off of that bounty forever," she argued. "We need food. We need to keep paying rent. We need to save up for when we can't stay here anymore. Don't you want to be able to live without having to constantly worry about whether or not we're going to be able to get by?"

"I'd rather be able to live without having to worry about you in bed with Miles Matheson," Mia retorted.

"I'm not sleeping with him," Nora countered. "It's just a job. That's it."

"Yeah, like sleeping with him in the first place was all just part of a job," Mia pointed out unenthusiastically.

"Exactly," her sister responded angrily. "That's how desperate I was Mia. I was willing to sleep with General Matheson and risk my life trying to kill him to protect you. This is better. It's a job and we _need_ money. It's not up for debate."

"You said that you were going to stop leaving me here by myself," Mia argued as her voice suddenly dropped in volume.

"I will," Nora assured her, although she wasn't sure that she was even convincing herself. "Just not yet, okay?"

"When?" Her sister challenged.

"As soon as I can, alright?" Nora questioned. "I promise."

* * *

As soon as she could proved to be a longer amount of time away than she had intended as Nora developed a pattern of bounty hunting for General Matheson. It became a routine where she showed up, he gave her a new target, she tracked them down, then she came back and turned down his offer of a drink in favour of collecting her bounty and going home to spend what little time she could with her sister.

The routine was only broken when she came back to collect her bounty, like usual, only to have an unfamiliar soldier escort her to the general's office. She was about to ask where Captain Baker was when she stepped through the doorway to find Miles and Monroe, staring down at a map, in the middle of a heated conversation that was quickly cut short when they noticed her.

"Right, you want your bounty," Miles commented before downing the rest of his drink in one gulp, much to her surprise. She was used to him trying to talk her into staying. Something must be wrong if he was going to get it for her, unprompted.

Before he could leave to get it, she walked over and blocked his path. She swiveled her neck to try to catch a glimpse at what they had been arguing over as she questioned, "What are you two working on?"

"None of your business," Monroe grunted out in a tone that was even more irritable than usual.

"Some of our men got captured by rebels," Miles responded. "Captain Baker included. We're trying to figure out how to get them back without losing even more men."

Monroe glared over at him as he insisted, "She doesn't need to know this. She's not going to be of any use." If anything, Bass was sure she would just prove to be a distraction for Miles and he really was not in the mood to deal with that.

His words grated on Nora's nerves, so she studied the plans of the building where she assumed the men were being held. After a moment, mainly to get back at Monroe, she commented, "There aren't many exits."

"Yeah, we already got that ourselves," Monroe shot back at her in an annoyed tone.

"You didn't let me finish," she responded with a glare before she pointed back at the map and pointed down at a side entrance that was at the end of a long hallway. "This one looks pretty useless, but mess with it and it'll throw them off. They'll start streaming out of the other ones to try to figure out what's going on and then you only have to worry about the two main doors."

Miles glanced over at the other general in challenge. He was sure that her plan was better than his friend had been expecting out of her. Miles knew that Bass still wanted, at all times, to underestimate her or consider her a huge threat towards them, instead of just trust her. He, on the other hand, was willing to hear her out as he questioned, "And how do you suggest that we mess with it and throw them off?"

Nora wasn't entirely proud of it, but a small smirk crept on her lips at that. "We blow it up." Miles raised an eyebrow at her and she took that as encouragement to go on. "They'll think we're trying to get in that way. Why else would we be blowing the door in? So when they go out the other doors to try to go around and attack us, they won't be expecting there to be men waiting for them."

Her use of 'we' and 'us' did not go unnoticed by Miles and he had to smirk a little at it. And to think Bass had been so convinced that she would never be loyal to the militia.

"Who's going to blow the door in?" Monroe challenged, speaking only to the other man as if Nora had left the room. "We can't just blow the whole place up, we need to control the explosion if we want to get our men out. You know anyone with that skill that we can get this short-notice, Miles?"

"I can do it," Nora spoke up with a hint of pride.

"You can?" Bass asked skeptically.

"I'm good at blowing things up," Nora insisted with a small smirk.

"There any other skills you want to share with us?" Monroe demanded.

She looked between them for a moment and then responded, "Not at the moment."

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! Another giant thanks goes out to strangeJenny for reviewing last chapter! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

Jeremy was still tied up when he heard the sound of a loud explosion. The rest of his men looked to him in confusion, but he had no response. He could only hope that it was their rescue crew and that they hadn't been deemed disposable in eliminating the threat of the Rebel outlet.

It was clear that the rebels hadn't seen it coming as they lost all order and instead began to panic. People were running every which way, both towards and away from the source of the sound, and they were soon left virtually unguarded.

* * *

After blowing the door in, Nora had been instructed to go back to the wagon and wait. She wasn't entirely fond of the idea of being told to sit things out as if she wouldn't be of any use, but she did as she was told anyways. After all, she also wasn't overly keen on the idea of losing her life fighting for the militia either. Her work was done and she was just going to wait for things to play out as she tried to ignore all of the screaming, along with the occasional sounds of gunfire.

* * *

They were back in Monroe's office, celebrating getting the men back, when Nora finally accepted Miles' offer to stay for a drink. She knew that her sister was probably waiting up for her, but she felt a rush at the victory and she was finally beginning to feel as if she was no longer considered lesser than the men as Monroe and Baker finally warmed up to her.

As Jeremy finished pouring his drink and Miles handed a drink over to Nora, he seemed to decide that a toast was in order.

"To Nora, whatever her last name is, for saving your sorry ass," Miles told Jeremy with a smirk.

"You know, I think I'm starting to get the one name thing," Monroe commented. "It's like a Madonna or Cher thing, right?"

"It's Clayton," she spoke up. It wasn't really that big of a risk telling them her last name, especially in the blackout world, so she decided that they had reached the point when she could trust them enough to give them her full name.

"Who's Clayton?" Bass questioned. "I've never heard of that one."

"I'm Clayton," she insisted. "That's my last name."

Miles downed the rest of his drink in one chug before insisting, "Well then we're going to need to give you a proper toast, Nora Clayton. And I'm going to need another drink."

* * *

She really had intended to stay just for the one drink, but she had been enjoying herself for the first time in a long time and one thing had led to another until she was waking up in Miles Matheson's bed, for the second time, the next morning.

He woke up as she was sliding her pants back over her hips and mentally reprimanding herself for having let herself fall asleep afterwards.

"You didn't try to kill me this time," he pointed out in an amused tone as he slowly sat up.

"I figured if I tried that again, you probably wouldn't give me another job," she shot back almost absentmindedly as her eyes scanned the floor in search of where her shirt had landed the night before.

"Where are you running off to this early anyways?" He questioned as he rubbed tiredly at one of his eyes.

She finally found the damn shirt and moved to pick it up from where it had been hidden, half-lying under the bed, as she responded, "I've got to get home. I told Mia I'd be back last night, she's probably freaking out."

"Mia. That's the mystery sister?" He asked as he watched her pull her shirt on over her head.

She was too focused on tugging at her shirt, trying to adjust it, to look up at him as she responded, "That would be the one." Her eyes flickered back up to meet his when she realized all at once that she had just let real information slip about the sister she had so adamantly been refusing to talk about, unless it was necessary. And even then it had only been in the most general terms.

"Are you sure she can't worry for a little longer?" He questioned as his eyes trailed down her body, then back up, ever so slowly.

"I have to go," she insisted as she tugged on one of her boots. "I already shouldn't have stayed last night."

His expression fell a little, but he covered it up so well that she barely noticed. Still, she realized that had come out a lot more harshly than she had intended, so she pulled her other boot on then back-tracked to the bed to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning for the door.

* * *

When Nora got back, she found the room that she and her sister had been renting utterly ransacked. Her eyes quickly searched Mia for damage as the younger girl sat up in bed.

"What happened?" She questioned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Mia responded bitterly. "They took all the food and money though." She had gotten shoved around a little, but there was no doubt in her mind that she had gotten off easy. She was lucky to be in such good condition and she could see by the look on her older sister's face that she knew that too. "Where were you last night?"

Nora was silent as she looked around the room at all of the mess and thought about what could have happened to her sister while she had been curled up in General Matheson's bed. She blamed herself and apparently she wasn't the only one.

"You were with him, weren't you," Mia accused. "I was here by myself, waiting for you to get back and worrying about _you__, b_ut you were just fine. You were sleeping in Miles Matheson's bed without a second thought about me."

"Mia, you know that I can't spend five minutes of my life not worrying about you," Nora argued.

"Clearly you can or else you would have come home last night instead of sleeping with Miles Matheson," she insisted. "But I'm glad to hear that I'm such a burden to you."

"You're right. I should have been here last night," Nora admitted. "I shouldn't have left you alone here, it's not safe. Grab your stuff."

"Why?" Mia asked suspiciously.

"I can't keep leaving you out here on your own," her sister insisted. "I need to know you're safe. You're coming back with me."

"And you think I'll be safe surrounded by Militia?" Mia demanded. "Nora, please. Let's just go somewhere else. I don't trust them."

"I know, but I do," Nora responded, surprising herself a little with how much she meant it. "As crazy as it sounds, we'll be safe there. Just please grab your stuff."

"I'm not going."

"Yes, you are," Nora argued. "Even if I have to drag you there myself."

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**A/N: Please read and review! Another giant thanks goes out to simbagirl for being awesome and reviewing last chapter! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

"Just couldn't stay away, could you?" Miles asked in an amused tone as Nora turned into the room.

"Does that offer still stand?" She questioned as her sister reluctantly stepped into the room behind her and shot a nasty glare in his direction.

Miles eyed the girl who was standing with her arms crossed over her chest and a smile formed on his lips as he commented, "You must be Mia."

"And you must be Miles," she spit out unhappily. "Nora should have killed you when she had the chance."

* * *

Miles showed them to a couple of empty rooms, although he fully planned on trying to keep Nora sleeping in his bed instead of the one in her room, that were side by side.

Mia shot him one last glare, then turned to her sister and complained, "I can't believe you had sex with him." With that, she walked into her room and shut the door firmly behind her.

Nora held back a sigh before turning to face Miles as a small teasing smile formed on her lips, "I think you're growing on her."

"Clearly," Miles responded sarcastically. "She's my new biggest fan."

"You should have heard what she was saying about you on the way over here," Nora insisted. "Her complaints were a hell of a lot more focused on you before. Now it's mostly directed at me."

"Now that you're staying here, does that mean that I can actually convince you to come eat breakfast?" He questioned.

"Now that you mention it, I am pretty hungry," she admitted. She turned to her sister's door and pounded her fist against it, then called out, "Mia, are you hungry?"

"I'm not eating their food!" Mia called out through the door.

Nora turned her attention back over to Miles before shrugging in defeat. She wasn't in the mood for trying to argue with Mia anymore. She was just glad that she had managed to convince her to come there, even if it had been incredibly reluctantly, with her. She figured that she'd just wait until Mia was hungry enough that she couldn't hold out any longer instead of making things worse.

* * *

A big smirk formed on Bass's lips the instant that he spotted Nora walking in at Miles' side.

"Didn't get home last night, huh?" He asked her suggestively.

It was a little strange, having him seem happy to have her there. Apparently she had finally passed his test and he had realized that she wasn't just waiting around to execute Miles. Or maybe it was just that he couldn't be bothered to care until she had finally proven herself. Either way, he seemed to have finally pulled the giant stick out of his ass.

Miles smirked over at his friend from behind her as he commented, "Finally managed to convince her to stay here too."

"You must be something else in bed," Bass commented in an amused tone to his co-general.

"He seems to think so," Nora insisted, causing Bass to let out a laugh at his friend's expense.

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**A/N: Please read and review! Another giant thanks goes out to simbagirl for being amazing and reviewing last chapter! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

Nora and Mia had been staying in their new living quarters for a little over a week, although Nora hadn't been spending nearly as much time in her own room as she had been spending in General Matheson's, when Nora thought that her sister had finally started to adjust a little to the new setting. That observation proved to be wrong incredibly quickly though as Nora made her way back down the hallway one morning to go wake her little sister up.

"Mia?" She tried for the third time. She knocked on the door again. "Mia. If you don't come out, then I'm letting myself in." She hesitated a few more seconds before announcing, "Alright, I'm coming in."

She turned the knob and found that the door had been left unlocked. She slowly pushed the door open, but instead of finding her sister, she found a folded piece of paper with her name written on it sitting on the bed.

She slowly walked in, still scanning the room as if her sister was about to jump out at any moment and tell her that this was all just some bad joke. She reached out to the paper and lifted it carefully, as if she were afraid that the paper would crumble from her touch, then slowly unfolded it.

Nora read and reread the note, but she was still having a hard time believing it. Only when she looked around the room again and realized that all of her sister's belongings were gone, did she begin to believe that it was true. Her little sister had left her the night before, without even saying goodbye to her face before going.

In her note, Mia had said that Nora shouldn't worry about her, but that was all that Nora knew how to do since the Blackout. The note had also said not to come after her, that she wanted to go by herself, and that she couldn't stand staying in the militia headquarters for any longer.

For the first time since the power had gone out, Nora found herself without anyone else to look out for. She was completely alone, with all of her decisions left up to her, and she wasn't sure what to do with that or how to feel about it. She wished that she had seen it coming and talked her sister out of leaving, but at the same time a sickening part of her felt a small sense of relief at the freedom that came with having her sister gone.

Apparently she must have been standing there for longer than she had thought, since Miles eventually showed up looking for her and dragged her out of her thoughts as he questioned, "Where's your sister?"

"She's gone," Nora responded before turning around to look at him.

His eyes flickered from the hurt look on her face to the piece of paper, which was still clutched in her hand, before he asked, "Does that mean that you're leaving too?" He tried to keep his expression indifferent, but the truth was that he had grown used to having her around and he wasn't ready to watch her go. He hadn't wanted to keep someone around this badly since Rachel.

Maybe, for the first time in a long time, her decisions affected only her. But she realized then that she wasn't alone. She still had Miles and she found that, even without a sister to worry about earning money for, she still wanted to stay in Philly with him. She had grown to like her job, along with the sense of accomplishment that she got from it, and she liked him.

"She's already gone," Nora pointed out. "And I like it here." She took a few steps closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I think I'll stay here for a while, if I can."

He grinned down at her before bringing his lips to hers. "I think we can arrange for that."

_The End_

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**A/N: Please read and review! Another huge thanks goes out to simbagirl for being awesome and reviewing last chapter! :D**


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